The ecosystem services supplied by urban green infrastructure depend on their naturalness, functionality and imperviousness

Abstract

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) can provide key ecosystem services (ES) for human well-being. For this purpose, it is critical to ascertain which characteristics regulate the provision of ES by UGI. In this study, eight ES (water supply, water regulation, waste regulation, nutrient regulation, soil formation, carbon sequestration, air temperature regulation and air humidity regulation) of thirty UGI sites of Zaragoza (Spain), were evaluated using proxy indicators derived from analyzed soil samples, and in-situ measured air temperature and humidity. A principal component analysis was performed to group different ES, and to study the dispersion of different types of UGI along the distinct ES. Additionally, relationships, between the evaluated ES and predictors; flatness, imperviousness, regularity, naturalness and functioning of the UGI sites were studied through linear and quadratic regressions. Large UGI sites such as riparian zones, meanders and natural forests showed relatively high values of ES in contrast with more artificial sites. Moreover, the study showed that water supply, water regulation, soil formation, carbon sequestration and air temperature regulation were significantly and positively related to ecological naturalness and functioning, while imperviousness was the main predictor explaining the reduction of five ES. Our findings provide evidence for the existence of important interactions between predictor variables and ES in UGI. It also showed that the provision of urban ES can be improved expanding the variety and type of green infrastructure sites, decreasing impervious area, and increasing the naturalness and functioning of UGI.

Methodological Approaches and Literature Analysis in the Study of Soil Carbon in Urban Green Spaces: A Systematic Review

“…Their soil carbon data provide carbon information, despite being the central theme of the research. For example, studies that focused on soil properties [22,29,[62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74], ecosystem services [2,19,31,43,[75][76][77][78] or aspects such as urban sprawl and land use change [26,77,79,80].…”

“…Many of these studies were based solely on in situ measurements [1,2,16,18,21,22,29,43,49,[52][53][54]56,[58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]78,80,81,83,85]. Some researchers complement this approach with other methods such as remote sensing imagery [4,26,27,57], open data [26,28,45,79,84], logarithmic modelling [17,31,48,50,51,…”

“…In the analyses carried out using in situ measurements, a discrepancy was found in the criteria used for soil sampling depth. While the prevailing trend was to focus on the upper 0-20 or 0-30 cm soil depth [1,4,18,27,28,31,49,54,[56][57][58][59]62,63,65,69,71,72,75,82,83], there were also studies that consider the superficial soil layers, specifically 0-5 cm [21,76], or 0-10 cm [22,29,43,53,64,68,70,85]. Furthermore, some studies even considered in situ sampling at soil depths greater than 50 cm [2,16,17,25,26,45,48,50,52,60,67,74,[78][79][80]84].…”

“…In situ samplings: 0-5 cm soil depth [21,76] In situ samplings: 0-10 cm soil depth [22,29,43,53,64,68,70,85] In situ samplings: 0-20 or 0-30 cm soil depth [ Remote sensing images [4,26,27,57] Open data [26,28,45,79,84] Logarithmic modeling [17,31,48,50,51,79,84] Personal interviews [ Longitudinal monitoring [17,25,28,45,55,58,65,66,77,79,84] Despite the term "urban green spaces" can include several alternatives. In this context, the literature reviewed focused primarily on the study of urban parks [2,4,18,21,22,25,28,29,31,…”

Roadside Vegetation Functions, Woody Plant Values, and Ecosystem Services in Rural Streetscapes: A Qualitative Study on Rural Settlements in Western Slovakia

“…Green spaces regulate soil and air humidity in several height levels of the streetscape profile [24,25].…”